3 State Ban On THF 303

jtwat

Member
Three states have ordered a halt of the sale of Tractor Hydraulic Fluid (THF).
https://pqiablog.com/2018/08/08/north-carolina-is-now-the-third-state-to-issue-a-stop-sale-order-on-303-tractor-hydraulic-fluid/
 
It would appear that the ban is because many brands of 303 oil are not meeting the newer requirements for that oil. I would guess that these are the ones you see with the warning to not use them in newer equipment.

https://pqiablog.com/2018/08/08/north-carolina-is-now-the-third-state-to-issue-a-stop-sale-order-on-303-tractor-hydraulic-fluid/
Link to Ban article
 
Don't you folks have trans hydraulic fluid on the shelves? There are three types on the fleet and farm stores here - ihc compatible, JD compatible, and universal compatible.

Only started seeing something labeled 303 the last year or so. Is it only a hydraulic oil?

Paul
 
Paul the trouble is if you use this cheaper 303 oil in a tractor that has clutch disks or brake disks that run in the oil it can ruin those disks. I know they are saying 1974 and newer but heck older JD tractors had wet disk brakes too. So I am not 100% sure what the issue is with the 303 rating. JDs oil was called 303 until the mid 1980s IRC.

All I do know is this cheaper stuff can cause trouble. Had a customer buy a 55 gallon barrel. HE changed the oil in his JD 7600 and within 10-15 hours the transmission started slipping. I tore into it. The shift pack disk looked good other then the facing was no long glued to the steel center. What ever is different in the oil caused the facing to come loose on all the disks. So we had to complete replace all of the ones in the transmission. Then we also replaced the brake disks too. PTO clutch and main clutch too. Total cost for parts and labor was over $8500. Tractor only had 1700 hours on it. So his saving $300 on a barrel turned out to not be too good of an investment.

I tell everyone to use a HyGuard or HYtran rated oil. It even works better in the older stuff as it has more anti- moisture additives.
 
Yea, it's pretty common to use the generic stuff from the fleet and farm stores, but it's nothing to do with 303, it's a real hydraulic transmission oil, with small print of what it works with for tractors.

They also have just hydraulic oil, cheaper, no protection for the gears and added stuff.

When the 303 pails showed up last year, they were considerably cheaper, but didn't really say what it was. It appears in other parts of the country this 303 stuff has been around a while and common?

I'm good with the normal quality universal stuff. Been using it for many decades.

Paul
 
Tractor Supply has been selling the 303 stuff for awhile and they also sell Premium Hydraulic oil which is almost twice as much$ as the 303 that ought to tell customers something right there.I use the Premium hydraulic oil because I have older tractors with external brakes,clutches etc, but as JD Seller pointed out of If I had newer tractors I'd be using JD HY Gard.I wouldn't use the 303 oil in anything.Cheap oil and grease is no bargain in the long run.
 
303 is an old old spec tractor hydraulic fluid . The api has nothing to do with regulating hydraulic oils So it?s not like engine oil where If it is marked with whatever spec the oil in the cab has to meet that spec
a276665.jpg
 
It all comes done to the people who refuse to believe just because all oil comes from only a few refinery?s doesn?t mean that there isn?t different specs for oils set buy the engineers who designed the machines and you should use the oil they recommend .
 
Here is the problem I see with 303.

You go to tractor supply and it looks like this is good for all tractors and cost less.
Unless you read the fine print on the bottle (who does that) you would not know this oil is for 1974 and older.


a276672.jpg



But when you look at the bottlers fact sheet there it is.
Do not use in tractors 1974 or newer.


a276673.jpg



So who is to blame here.
The bottler?
The seller?
Or the guy that bought based on price.
Guess we do need the government after all.
To protect unknowledgeable consumers from themselves.
 
Also a little play on words there too,reading it first impression to me says its OK for tractors before 1974.But not necessarily as it says it hasn't been recommended for any tractor since
1974,in reality it could be the case that 99% of the tractors made before 1974 didn't recommend it.Just that one said it was OK in 1974.Maybe some never ever said it was OK to be used.
 
I have old stuff with hydraulics separate from everything else and been using 303 for that with no issues but like one of the posters said, If I had major dollars invested in a late model tractor there is no way I am going to cheapskate the fluids. I can see where the average Joe would be fooled by the labeling, it should be sold as hydraulic oil, not a combination fluid.
 
Comes from people not bothering to read the label or know what they need. 303 works great in my leaky Farmall 350 and is cheaper than anything else out there. But I would never use it the rear end of a 1206 or newer Farmall.


Kind of like the lawsuit against Dollar General for selling 30W nondetergent oil. People were buying it for $1.50 a quart and pouring it into a new car and wondering why they had engine problems. Instead of realizing they screwed up they hired a lawyer.


https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2017/dollar-general-motor-oil-class-action-lawsuit.shtml
 
(quoted from post at 22:48:56 08/12/18) Paul the trouble is if you use this cheaper 303 oil in a tractor that has clutch disks or brake disks that run in the oil it can ruin those disks. I know they are saying 1974 and newer but heck older JD tractors had wet disk brakes too. So I am not 100% sure what the issue is with the 303 rating. JDs oil was called 303 until the mid 1980s IRC.

All I do know is this cheaper stuff can cause trouble. Had a customer buy a 55 gallon barrel. HE changed the oil in his JD 7600 and within 10-15 hours the transmission started slipping. I tore into it. The shift pack disk looked good other then the facing was no long glued to the steel center. What ever is different in the oil caused the facing to come loose on all the disks. So we had to complete replace all of the ones in the transmission. Then we also replaced the brake disks too. PTO clutch and main clutch too. Total cost for parts and labor was over $8500. Tractor only had 1700 hours on it. So his saving $300 on a barrel turned out to not be too good of an investment.

I tell everyone to use a HyGuard or HYtran rated oil. It even works better in the older stuff as it has more anti- moisture additives.

303 was a john deere spec using sperm whale oil for better service over the 20wt oil use in type a hydraulic oil.. It was designed for wet clutches and wet brakes for tractors in the 60's and early 70s.... Todays copy of 303 oil has NO sperm whale oil as it was banned by international treaty... iirc in 1974. Due to the fact the oil has NO sperm whale oil in it, its false advertising to sell it as 303 oil. They can simply relabel it as a substitute for 303 but not as 303 due to consumer trade laws. Some of the manufacturers have already relabeled the oil for those states and have returned to it market. Newer auto/power shift tractors run more pressure, much more heat and require a simi synthetic blend oil. If you have one of these newer tractors you NEED to run the better oil.

If you have an older tractor with wet brakes and wet clutches, the 303 equivalent will work fine.
 
That 32 degrees thing is a big reason I don't see it much around here in the past also. So only in an old tractor that is parked 1/2 the year in Minnesota...... ha.

Thanks all.

Paul
 
Those three states have banned low cost 303 due to them not meeting the specs claimed on the label.

Not because customers are choosing the wrong product.
Because the customer is not getting what is shown on the labeling and specs claimed.
 
I?ve Ran it in the 4020 for years it?s a little slow to warm up when it?s 30 below zero and the brakes chatter more but when it?s going on the ground out of a leaky loaders cylinders there?s not a thing wrong with it
 
I?ve ran it down to 40 below zero and no problems it?s a little slow to warm up at that temperature but also at 40 below it?s not a bad idea to let the tractor warm up for 20 minutes anyway
 
That's a good point because as I recall reading the label it said hydraulic fluid, not trans-hydraulic fluid on containers I viewed in the last 6 months. In the verbiage on the rear, where no specs are listed, it does say that it has been field tested and can be used in numerous areas in the tractor or something to that effect.
 

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